A Fake Holy Mother in the Zombie Apocalypse

Du Ruo suddenly pointed into the distance and said to Bei Nuan, “Look, more people are coming to the island.”

They were standing halfway up the mountain, with a wide, unobstructed view.

In the distance, Bei Nuan saw a boat dock at the pier. It was older than the speedboat she had stolen, but it was much larger and wider, like a cargo vessel.

A group of people were unloading several iron cages from the boat.

There seemed to be something moving inside the cages, but it was dark inside, and they were too far away to see clearly.

Du Ruo studied the scene intently. “What's in the cages? Are they animals? Are they building a zoo on the island?”

Bei Nuan countered, “No way. They're probably animals for eating.”

A few people carrying stones passed by and casually joined the conversation. “Neither. They're zombies the casino caught and brought back.”

Caught what? Zombies?

Bei Nuan could hardly believe her ears.

People were usually trying to avoid zombies, not bringing them onto the island!

The men saw Bei Nuan's surprised expression and laughed, as if this were a common occurrence. “It's a form of entertainment at the casino. They put zombies and people in large iron cages for cage fights, and people bet on whether the person can kill the zombie or not.”

Using people to fight zombies for fun? Only someone with a serious problem would come up with such a messed-up idea.

Speak of the devil. She was just worrying about where to find zombies for her mission, and now fresh, piping-hot zombies were being delivered right to her doorstep.

At the pier, the men unloaded the cages containing the zombies, loaded them onto a flatbed truck, and drove through the main gate.

The people who transported the zombies went for their routine injury check, and the flatbed truck with the cages was parked near the gate.

Presumably, the islanders hadn't seen zombies in a while, as many people gathered around to watch the spectacle.

The "Compassion" mission suddenly took a turn for the better.

The most troublesome part of this mission was finding zombies. Now that she had found them, the rest should be easy.

As long as she ran to the cages and tossed a piece of beef jerky inside from a distance, she should be able to complete the mission.

It was an opportunity she couldn't miss.

Bei Nuan made up her mind, told Du Ruo she was going to the restroom, and slipped away.

She rushed down the mountain, sprinting through the large marketplace, and arrived at the main gate.

However, she was a bit late. The transport workers had finished their injury check, and the flatbed truck had already left.

It wasn't moving very fast, though, and many onlookers were still following it.

Now closer, Bei Nuan saw that each cage did indeed contain a zombie, restlessly baring its teeth and growling inside the iron bars.

The cages looked sturdy, the bars welded tightly together, and lined with a layer of woven wire mesh. The zombies inside couldn't touch anyone outside; it seemed very safe.

While running over, Bei Nuan had worried that throwing beef jerky into the cage would be too conspicuous.

It turned out not to be noticeable at all.

A group of mischievous children were following the flatbed truck, trying to throw small stones and sticks into the cages.

Small stones flew everywhere, most missing their targets.

Bei Nuan immediately joined in, blending with the group of kids, and vigorously tossed pieces of beef jerky toward the cages.

The other children were all small, and Bei Nuan towered over them, making her quite conspicuous.

Conspicuous or not, she didn't care. Completing the mission was the most important thing.

For the hot water pouch. For the ice cream.

Unfortunately, the flatbed truck was moving too fast, and it seemed to be accelerating.

Her aim wasn't good enough, and the dense wire mesh was an obstacle. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't throw the beef jerky into the cage.

The truck sped up, and the children gradually gave up chasing it. Only Bei Nuan persisted, diligently continuing to throw beef jerky at the cages.

A little boy advised Bei Nuan, "Sister, we can't catch up. Why don't we stop throwing and go play marbles?"

Bei Nuan: "…"

The flatbed truck just passed the narrowest and most crowded section of the market, suddenly accelerated, puffed out a large cloud of exhaust, and left Bei Nuan in the dust.

Holding the beef jerky in her hand, Bei Nuan stood dejectedly in the middle of the road for a while.

She took a deep breath and encouraged herself.

She had completed so many difficult and strange missions, so why should she be afraid of this one?

It was a piece of cake.

“Little brother,” Bei Nuan turned and asked the boy who had invited her to play marbles, “Do you know where the casino is?”

Ten minutes later, Bei Nuan saw the island's largest and most famous casino.

It was located in the same cave she had visited when she first arrived on the island, but much deeper inside.

The casino was quite large, and to Bei Nuan's surprise, anyone could enter and exit freely. There wasn't even anyone guarding the entrance.

Deep within the cave, despite the lack of natural light, many gas lamps were hanging, much more advanced than the simple pine torches used outside.

The noise inside was deafening; it was packed with people.

It didn't feel like a casino; the chaotic scene resembled a marketplace more.

The casino was well-equipped with gambling tables and chips. Apart from anything requiring electricity, it had everything a casino should have.

Countless people crowded around the tables, trying their luck.

Judging by their attire, there were both neatly dressed gang members and laborers wearing dog tags.

There was no class distinction here; everyone was mixed together, their eyes gleaming, staring at the tables, clutching their chips, lost in the thrill of gambling.

Bei Nuan made her way through the shouting crowd, searching for the large iron cages she had seen earlier.

She walked around, searching everywhere, inside and out, but couldn't find a single zombie.

They definitely weren't on display.

Bei Nuan guessed that after the zombies were brought in, they were most likely taken to some place in the back for temporary storage.

Away from the bustling gambling tables, there was a wide, corridor-like tunnel that seemed to go deep inside.

At the entrance, a rope was symbolically strung across, with a wooden sign that read "No Admittance, Violators Will Be Punished." Only casino staff were going in and out.

Bei Nuan observed for a while and thought she might be able to blend in.

Apart from the gambling equipment, which seemed to have come from who-knows-where, the casino wasn't very formal.

The dealers and servers, like everyone else, wore their own clothes. There were no uniforms, so it was impossible to tell who was an "unauthorized person" just by looking at their clothes.

Bei Nuan took a deep breath, ducked under the rope, and walked straight in.

No one stopped her.

The tunnel was deep, and on both sides were cave "rooms" carved out of the rock. Some of the "rooms" had people resting and drinking water.

People passed Bei Nuan in the corridor, and they didn't react to her at all.

Further inside was a kitchen, where staff were preparing drinks and food for the guests. There were large barrels of what looked like homemade alcohol and various roasted meats.

Bei Nuan walked all the way to the end of the corridor and saw several "rooms" used for storage, filled with randomly piled tables, chairs, benches, boxes, and utensils.

Finally, at the very end, she saw the large iron cages she had been looking for.

There were many of them, almost filling the entire room, not just the few she had seen earlier.

Most importantly, although the entrance to the cave where the cages were kept had an iron gate, it wasn't locked. It was slightly ajar.

Although the gate was open, it was still safe inside.

All the zombies were locked in their cages.

Bei Nuan quickly slipped inside and pulled out the beef jerky from her pocket.

Now the cages were stationary, and she could throw the jerky however she wanted, much easier than throwing it at a moving truck.

She tried two or three times, but the wire mesh kept blocking the jerky.

Finally, with a swoosh, a piece of beef jerky flew through a hole in the mesh and landed inside the cage.

The zombie inside, which had been lying on the wire fence, baring its teeth and groaning at Bei Nuan, suddenly saw the object fly into the cage and immediately went to pick it up.

It sniffed the jerky, probably finding it unappetizing compared to the delicious smell of Bei Nuan, and discarded it, continuing to paw at the wire mesh, its eyes fixed on her.

Bei Nuan quickly checked the mission panel.

Although the zombie hadn't eaten the jerky, the "Compassion" mission was successfully completed.

Bei Nuan thought: Zombie King, you don't have to try it yourself. Your subjects really don't eat beef jerky.

The zombie's menu consisted only of Bei Nuan. It groaned, drooling profusely at her.

Bei Nuan picked up the discarded beef jerky, turned to leave, and suddenly noticed something was wrong.

The cage in the front, the one containing the zombie, wasn't locked like the others.

The cage doors had a special locking mechanism. Even without a padlock, a metal bolt, accessible only from the outside, secured the door firmly.

However, the bolt on this cage was also partially open.

Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, but now the zombie, fixated on Bei Nuan, was shaking the cage door violently.

The metal bolt, along with the shaking door, was slowly turning open.

Bei Nuan lunged forward and slammed the bolt shut.

Whoever had been so careless was incredibly irresponsible. It was terrifying.

Fortunately, Bei Nuan had noticed in time. Otherwise, when she turned around, the zombie might have charged out and pounced on her.

After securing the cage door, Bei Nuan breathed a sigh of relief and was about to leave when she suddenly heard footsteps and voices outside.

There was nothing else in this area except for the zombie cages, so Bei Nuan quickly hid in a corner.

There was no natural light in the cave; only the gas lamps from outside provided illumination. The corner was dark, and the large iron cages provided cover, making it difficult to be noticed.

A group of people entered.

By the light from the corridor, Bei Nuan immediately recognized a familiar face—the fat man, Uncle Shi, who had eaten the roasted sparrows for free at the market that morning.

He was walking in front, opening the iron gate, and respectfully stepped aside to let two other people enter first.

One of the two was a young man.

He was wearing a military-style shirt with shoulder straps and chest pockets, but he wasn't wearing it properly. Two or three buttons on his chest were undone, and his hands were tucked into his trouser pockets.

He had a pair of beautiful phoenix eyes, the corners slightly upturned, with a playful, almost mischievous expression. He was talking to the other man, a middle-aged man who looked very serious.

He was about forty years old, with tanned skin and a military-like posture, his back ramrod straight as if a wooden board was strapped to it.

He had several permanent frown lines between his eyebrows, and his face bore the stern expression of someone used to giving orders.

He was also wearing the same military-style shirt and trousers as the young man, but his were much neater, perfectly ironed, and all the buttons were buttoned.

If you didn't look closely, you wouldn't even realize they were wearing the same clothes.

“How many times have I told you,” the middle-aged man was saying, “bringing these things onto the island is too dangerous.”

The young man laughed. “Brother, look at these cages, how sturdy they are! These zombies are really fine, they're all securely locked up.”

Bei Nuan, who had just re-secured a zombie cage, thought: Sure.

The middle-aged man stood at the entrance, seemingly disgusted by the many caged zombies in the room.

The young man walked over, glanced at the outer cages, and turned to ask Uncle Shi, “How are these ones? I've told you many times, the zombies need to look ferocious, but not too ferocious. If they're too ferocious, they're difficult to control during the cage fights.”

Uncle Shi quickly nodded. “Of course. I told them to pay special attention this time when they were catching them. They're all carefully selected.”

The young man smiled and glanced at him. “Uncle Shi, my casino earns a lot, and your share is also large, so don't try to fool me.”

Uncle Shi gave a forced laugh. “Of course not, how could I fool Brother Ji?”

Brother Ji?

Bei Nuan immediately knew who this person was.

The book mentioned that the island's gang was originally an armed force from country N, who had become bandits due to local conflicts.

The older generation of leaders were no longer involved in the day-to-day operations. The person actually in charge of the island was named Qiu Zhengxun, a decisive and efficient middle-aged man.

Qiu Zhengxun had a half-brother named Qiu Ji, who was somewhat irresponsible.

So the carefree young man who ran the casino and captured zombies was Qiu Ji.

Then the middle-aged man he had just called "brother" must be Qiu Zhengxun.

Bei Nuan thought that the two brothers seemed to have a good relationship.

But she clearly remembered that in the book, shortly after Bei Nuan and her group arrived on the island, the younger brother, Qiu Ji, seemed to have died.

The book mentioned that the team heard them firing guns in mourning.

The problem was, Qiu Ji was clearly standing right here, hands in his pockets, inspecting the zombies in the cages one by one, getting quite close, causing the zombies to shake the cage doors frantically.

After a while, Qiu Zhengxun asked his brother from a distance, “You've seen them. Since you insist on bringing zombies onto the island, and I can't control you anyway, shall we go?”

Qiu Ji readily nodded. “Okay.”

Uncle Shi quickly stepped forward and opened the iron gate wider for them.

Qiu Zhengxun suddenly turned around and glanced in Bei Nuan's direction. His gaze seemed to penetrate the darkness and land on her.

Bei Nuan flinched and quickly ducked her head back into the corner, not daring to show herself.

“You can stop hiding, I know you're there.”

Qiu Zhengxun's voice came.

Bei Nuan thought, don't try to trick me, it's so dark here, you can't see anything.

Qiu Zhengxun continued coldly, “Come out yourself. Do you want me to send someone to drag you out?”

Suddenly, Bei Nuan understood.

Although she was hiding well, he could still easily tell someone was hiding in this corner.

Because it was surrounded by cages full of zombies.

The zombies all knew Bei Nuan was hiding in the corner. Every one of them nearby was clinging to the bars, straining to look in her direction.

No matter how well she hid, she was still betrayed by Du Ruo and his foolish subjects.

Bei Nuan reluctantly shuffled out of the corner and moved into the area illuminated by the gas lamps.

Qiu Zhengxun glanced at her and saw that it was just a young girl. The tension on his face disappeared, replaced by impatience.

Uncle Shi, standing beside him, blurted out, “Aren't you the one from this morning…”

Bei Nuan thought: You have good eyes.

Qiu Ji looked at Bei Nuan with interest and instructed, “Show me your tag.”

Bei Nuan obediently pulled the iron tag out from her collar and showed it to him.

Qiu Ji glanced at the "F" on the tag and smiled. “What are you doing here?”

Qiu Zhengxun was already very impatient. “Why waste your breath on her? It clearly states that unauthorized personnel are not allowed in here. She's disobeying the rules and running around. Tie her up and throw her into the lake.”

Bei Nuan was startled.

Being tied up and thrown into the lake was no joke.

Qiu Zhengxun frowned, looking displeased, and gestured to his men behind him.

Two men immediately stepped forward to grab Bei Nuan.

Qiu Ji also raised his hand, stopping them.

Qiu Ji wasn't aggressive at all. He asked Bei Nuan again, “What are you doing here? A laborer, why would you come to the place where we keep the zombies?”

She couldn't think of an excuse.

Uncle Shi also asked Bei Nuan, “Are you here looking for someone?”

If she admitted to looking for someone, what would she do if they asked who she was looking for? Bei Nuan had just arrived on the island and didn't know anyone. She couldn't even make up a lie.

Bei Nuan shook her head. Before she could speak, Uncle Shi asked again, “Then are you here looking for food? Or are you lost?”

Bei Nuan felt like his questions were traps.

The kitchen was right up ahead; there was no need to come this far to look for food. Lost? This was a dead-end corridor, with people all along the way to ask for directions. There was no way to get lost.

Besides, there was a large "No Admittance" sign at the entrance.

Bei Nuan braced herself and said, “Neither. I just came in to play.”

Qiu Ji's eyes lit up with even more interest. “You came to play in the place where we keep zombies? Is it fun? Aren't you afraid?”

Since she had already started making things up, she might as well continue.

Bei Nuan said, “Because I used to be very afraid of zombies, but then I thought that wasn't good. I heard that there are many zombies kept here, and they're all in cages, so it's safe. I just wanted to come here quietly to practice being brave.”

She added in a small voice, “I really… didn't bully your zombies.”

Throwing beef jerky didn't count as bullying.

“Bully zombies?” Qiu Ji's eyes crinkled with amusement. “Such a small person, and an F, but quite brave.”

Qiu Zhengxun didn't want to listen to their conversation any longer. He ordered his men, “Tie her up, take her outside the wall, and throw her into the lake.”

Was he serious?

Bei Nuan quickly scanned her space, found the life jacket she had stored away from the river crossing, and also picked out the sharpest dagger.

She wasn't sure if it was possible to cut the ropes binding her hands while in the water.

The protagonists in movies always did that, but as a supporting character, Bei Nuan had no confidence that she could pull it off.

However, Qiu Ji stopped the men who came to tie her up.

“Wait. What a waste. Even if you really want to punish her, I have a better way.”

Qiu Zhengxun looked as if he wanted his men to just shoot Bei Nuan and be done with it, but Qiu Ji insisted.

The two brothers were at a standstill.

They stared at each other, neither willing to budge over a mere laborer.

After a while, Qiu Zhengxun gave in and nodded.

Five minutes later, Bei Nuan learned what Qiu Ji's "better way" of punishing her was.

They took her to the deepest part of the casino.

It was a large cave, crowded with people shouting excitedly, as if anticipating something good.

Over the sea of heads, Bei Nuan could see a raised platform at the far end of the cave, like a stage.

On the platform was a huge iron cage, the size of a room.

ʕ•́ᴥ•̀ʔっ

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